The Daily Telegraph's 'The Ten Films That Changed the World'... Apparently

Quote :

The ten films that changed the world
Do movies matter? Mark Cousins thinks so. He outlines ten films that have left an indelible mark on the ways of the world.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION, 1915
MALE AND FEMALE, 1919
THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, 1935
JAWS, 1976 and THE MINIMATA FILMS of the 1970S
REPENTANCE, 1984
HESHANG, 1988
A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING, 1988
MCLIBEL, 2005
TOUCH OF EVIL, 1958

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/8737558/The-ten-films-that-changed-the-world.html

I must confess I've only seen six of those, but my reaction is surprisingly similar to this reader:

Quote :

10 Films that changed the world? Has the clean Norn Irish air skipping off Napoleon's Nose and Glenariff driven you mad, Cousins? Change the world? That list wouldn't change my underwear!

The intriguing thing is that I find myself attempting to visualise your upbringing. Some depressing, crappy street of terraced houses in East Belfast, in the shadow of the Krupp cranes. Harold Lloyd on the box to look forward to in the mornings during school holidays. An adolescence graced by the oh-so-predictable left wing stance followed up by lashings of hot Guardian in your twenties followed by God only knows what.

Your crap taste in movies I attribute to a decrepit old uncle who still dreams of a future filled with a return to silent movies via those Italian and French perverts (sorry, I meant "artistic" exponents) of movie making in the 60s and 70s.

I would sooner have the completely brain-dead, formulaic, predictable, robotic dialogue present in virtually every American movie nowadays to the crap you've spouted. In a century which was both the birthplace of the movie and also witness to so much excellence, how have you managed to dig up so many trivialities

BIRTH OF A NATION and A TOUCH OF EVIL? Fine choices in my book, but MCLIBE and A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING? Mark Cousins, yer a feckin ejit.

I think Cousins makes the mistake of focusing on political influence (i.e. lawsuits, repeal of laws etc.) and not wider cultural/ industry influence. I know the later is less quantifiable, but it also results in a more interesting selection of films. Another thing is he's trying to include as much world cinema as possible, while I reckon he's overriding the actual influence of these films.

I'm East Belfast born and bred, and live there still ... and the only one of those I've seen is Jaws.

Goldfinger.

On the basis this isn't "A Short Film about Killing....and Beyond."

Only saw Jaws and Touch of Evil (sans the last ten minutes).

I can see the former changing cinema but in a financial sense, not sure of the latter.

Whatever.

RobDudley wrote:

Goldfinger.

On the basis this isn't "A Short Film about Killing....and Beyond."

More like "An Overlong Film About Killing Ian Fleming's Bond."

I think BIRTH OF A NATION is a legit entry. From what I've read about it it was a major step forward in terms of narrative and editing and all of that. At least in the sense of the form of filmmaking. Regardless of the subject matter.